Part 7
Spike-bot finished recharging and closed up his side making sure that the genetically engineered skin was folded back into place. He sat down in his chair and turned on the TV and began to watch Jeopardy.
Buffy walked into the crypt to confront Spike about what exactly was happening with him. She was shocked to see him sitting nonchalantly on his worn couch watching TV.
"Spike?"
"Buffy! What are doing here?" The vampire stood up.
"You haven't been patrolling with me for the last couple of days since our little talk at the Bronze. I wanted to see what's up and I wanted to talk to you."
"Was I supposed to patrol with you? I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry? Since when do you apologize?"
He looked at Buffy oddly and then a slow grin crept on his face. "It's polite."
"What's wrong with you lately? I need to talk to you seriously about Hilary being back."
"Oh. Not to worry. You are a hero. You will make sure that everything is right in the world. What is a Hilary?""
"Hilary - that psycho chick that nearly killed Dawn and me and actually tortured you. Call me Ms. Overprotective, but I think we should watch out for her."
"Oh! Well do you want to go patrolling. I am up for a spot of violence." Spike smiled.
"Patrolling? What's wrong with you? You act like you don't even know who she is?"
"Nothing is wrong with me. I am functioning fine." Spike smiled at Buffy.
"I swear to god if you smile at me one more time I am gonna pummel you to death. You have been acting different for the last week. I mean you save me and then you sort of disappeared and then you try and seduce, if that's what you call it, and then you avoid me. You are infuriating. I'm leaving." Buffy walked threw the door open in time to see eight vampires walking toward the crypt.
She dashed back through the door to see Spike jump up and smile at her. "We need weapons NOW!"
"What's going on?" Spike uncovered a box and pulled out a crossbow, a shotgun and a couple of other things.
"Vamps and lots of them." As soon as the words spilled from her mouth the crypt door burst open as eight angry vamps headed straight toward her. Spike held the crossbow and shot two vamps in the heart. Buffy quickly staked another, as three of them jumped on Spike. Buffy handled the other two with ease as she sidestepped their moves and drove her stake through their hearts.
She turned to see Spike handling the remaining three vamps. He backhanded one and sent him sprawling at Buffy's feet.
"Oh! Vamp delivery. This is fun," she quipped as she staked the hapless demon. The other two vamps had Spike on the ropes. One dropped-kicked him, sending him sprawling backward. Spike got up quickly and scissor-kicked one of the vamp assailants and rolled across the floor, picking up a stake and throwing it with keen precision into the vampire's chest.
But before Spike could even react, the last vampire grabbed a fallen stake and plunged it into Spike's heart.
Buffy screamed in terror as she watched Spike being staked. But as soon as the wood pierced his chest bolts of electricity surrounded his body. The vampire ran in shock as his victim fell to the ground. It took Buffy some time to register exactly what had happened, but finally Spike stopped twitching. Buffy stepped toward him. His blue eyes looked up at her.
"I'm sorry. Hilary would not be proud. Hilary? Where is Hilary? Hilary can fix..." Spike-bot stopped talking as Buffy broke down crying. Her heart had stopped when she saw Spike staked and now it ached because Spike was out there – somewhere - with Hilary, and she knew it was against his will. She needed to find him and find him fast. She got up and ran toward her house.
Spike woke up clinging to a pillow. He could hear the cluttering of pots and pans from the kitchen and decided to go and look for Hilary. The vampire got up slowly, noticing a stiffness in his arm and a tiny dark blue mark on his arm. Filing it away for later investigation, he pulled on his boxers and headed down the stairs.
He slowly peeked around the corner to hear his lover curse a string of obscenities as she set down a knife. Spike could smell the fresh blood and quickly made his way to her side. Hilary spun around shocked for a second, and then smiled.
"Finally up sleepy head."
"Yup."
Before Hilary could even respond, Spike grabbed her hand and lightly sucked on her index finger. Meanwhile his other hand slid around her waist, holding her close to him.
"I was trying to make a picnic basket for us." She sighed as he looked into her eyes, still suckling gently on her finger. "There is a full moon out, and I figured perfect night."
He finally released her finger smiled slightly, "I think it might be perfect too."
Part 8
"I don't even know where to start looking for her." Buffy exclaimed as she paced up and down. "She could have taken Spike anywhere. They might have even left the country."
Willow, Dawn and Tara looked on in sympathy. They were all worried about Spike, and at the moment they were just trying to think of ways to locate Hilary.
"What about the apartment she was staying in?" Willow suggested.
Buffy shook her head. "I went back there after she hurt Spike the first time. She'd cleared it out."
"But the real estate agent must have a contact number, right? I mean if she was renting or if she'd bought it she'd have to have given them her details." Tara added.
Buffy's eyes lit up. "Oh my God! You two are geniuses."
Willow looked proud while Tara smiled shyly.
"So go call them," Dawn prodded, not wanting to feel left out. "Then you can go kick some butt."
Buffy didn't need telling twice. She quickly hurried over to the phone and made the call.
As the phone was answered she put on her most polite voice.
"Hi, I was wondering if you could help me. I'm trying to track down an old friend of mine and the last address I have for her is apartment 12b St James' Court. Do you know if any forwarding address was left?"
The others watched as Buffy paused, then smiled as she grabbed a piece of paper and wrote some details down.
"Thank you." Buffy said with a smile as she hung up the phone. Immediately she picked up the receiver again and dialed another number.
"Hi, may I speak with Hilary please?"
She frowned. "Do you know where I can find her? It's very important."
Grabbing the piece of paper she wrote some more details down before hanging up. She then made her way back through to the others.
"I found her. She's staying in a cabin near Shaver Lake. I'm going now."
The others nodded in understanding as Buffy hurried upstairs to pack a few things together.
"So did you like the picnic?"
"Yeah. I especially loved the spicy chicken wings."
Hilary giggled, "I thought you would. They were always your favourite."
"We should go to a pub sometime."
"You want to go out?"
"Well, yeah. I'd love to teach you how to play pool again."
Hilary stiffened in his arms.
"II remember you and playing pool." Spike smiled.
"That's great, honey!" Hilary sat up on the blanket. "W-what else do you remember?"
He searched but came up with nothing. "That's it for now. Hopefully more bits and pieces will come back."
"Hopefully." Hilary chastised herself internally for forgetting to give him his third shot yesterday.
As the bus pulled to a stop, Buffy rubbed her hands wearily over her eyes. She'd been travelling all day now, moving from one bus to another without stopping to rest. She figured that the sooner she got to her destination, the sooner she could save Spike. When that was done then she'd be able to rest.
She was here now; all that was left to do was find the cabin. The woman at Hilary's father's house had told her that Hilary was staying in a cabin just off Shore Lake. But the lake was pretty big, and since she couldn't drive it was going to mean a lot of walking.
"No time like the present," she muttered to herself. After ducking into a nearby shop and buying a map, Buffy began to walk.
"Spike?" Hilary called as she pulled her jacket on. "I'm going into town to pick up some supplies."
When no answer came she figured he must be asleep, but as she placed her hand on the doorknob she felt a pair of arms snake around her waist and a chin rest on her shoulder.
"Want some company?" Spike purred.
Smiling, Hilary turned around so that her body was pressed firmly against his.
"I love some. But it's still daylight. I don't want you to get all flamey."
Spike pouted, causing Hilary to almost melt in his arms. Leaning up she caught his extended lip with her mouth and sucked on it gently, giving it a little nibble before pulling back.
"I won't be long," she promised. "Why don't you take a shower and get ready? We can do something when I get back."
A mischievous grin spread across Spike's face. "What exactly did you have in mind, pet?"
With an equally sly grin, Hilary gave his ass a firm pinch. "Wouldn't you like to know? I'll be back soon."
With a little toss of her head she opened the door and headed out to the car. As the door closed behind her Spike sighed happily.
"That's my girl."
Buffy was in luck. All the private cabins had been marked out on the map she'd bought, presumably to stop tourists from trying to visit them. She'd managed to hitch a ride between most of the large cabins and now only had one left to try. If Hilary and Spike weren't in this one she didn't know what she was going to do.
She headed up the path and peered in the window. The place appeared to be empty but it was obvious that someone was living there. It was then that she saw him. Emerging from one of the rooms, Spike padded barefoot into the living room, just a towel wrapped around his waist. Buffy frowned. It didn't look as though he was being held prisoner. She expected to see him chained up like last time.
Before she even knew she was doing it, her hand reached up and tapped lightly on the window. If Hilary was there she didn't want to get her attention. Spike spun around and saw her almost immediately. As their eyes met he frowned for a moment, almost as though he didn't recognise her. Then his eyes widened and he turned and hurried into one of the rooms.
Not knowing what else to do Buffy moved around to the front door and let herself in. She'd fight Hilary if she had to, but she was getting Spike out of there first.
"What the hell are you doing here?" a voice growled. It was Spike, now fully dressed and staring at her with rage glittering in his eyes.
"I've come to get you out of here," Buffy said, moving towards him. "Are you alright? Did she hurt you?"
Spike backed away and to Buffy's surprise he began to laugh.
"Wow, you really are more stupid than I thought. Did you think you could just show up here after what you did to me? I may have lost my memory, but Hilary told me what you did."
For a moment Buffy could barely believe what she was hearing. Spike had lost his memory? And it was obvious Hilary had created some alternate history in which she was the villain.
"Spike, it's me. Buffy." She tried desperately; hoping the sound of her voice would trigger something inside him. "You know me. I don't know what she told you but she's your enemy, not me. We've been through so much together Spike. Come on, you have to remember."
For a moment Spike faltered and Buffy hoped that she was reaching him. But then his eyes grew cold.
"If you come near me or the woman I love again I will kill you. "
Tears welled up in Buffy's eyes as she realised her efforts were in vain. He believed that he loved Hilary, and she knew for a fact that the bond of love was stronger than any other, especially for him. As long as he believed whatever Hilary had told him there was nothing she could do.
She almost didn't notice her hand reaching for the marble statue on the table by the door. Swinging it around, she caught Spike sharply across the jaw, sending the vampire sprawling to the floor. She'd put all her strength into the blow and wasn't surprised when he didn't get up again. She just hoped he'd forgive her when he woke up. Now all she had to do was find some proof that Hilary had been lying to him.
It didn't take her long to find the safe in the den. If Hilary were keeping things from Spike this had to be the only place it would be. Using all her strength the managed to pry the door open and what she saw inside made her blood run cold. As well as the expected array of money and jewels there were several books on black magic and a small thin box containing four syringes of a bright green substance.
One of the books had been bookmarked and Buffy opened it. It was a chapter focusing on mind control. As Buffy read she learnt that the syringes contained a potion used for wiping people's memories. After six injections of the potion, the victim's old memories would be completely erased. The injections had to be evenly spaced, one every three days, as not to erase basic functionally such as writing or talking. As she continued to read, she learnt that the only way to cure the memory loss was to cast a spell which would cleanse the blood of the victim.
This wasn't good. By the time she managed to have a spell cast, Hilary and Spike would be long gone. There's no way they'd stick around once Hilary found out they'd been found. There was only one thing left to do.
Grabbing the phone, Buffy called the only person that could help.
"Willow, it's me. I've found Spike, but there's something wrong. It looks like Hilary has been brainwashing him. I found a load of this serum stuff that it looks like she's been injecting him with."
"Oh my god," Willow gasped.
"I need you to do a spell. This book mentions one that will cleanse any potions out of the blood."
"Yeah, I know the one. It's pretty simple. But Buffy, I don't know if it'll work on a vampire. I mean it's not exactly his blood that's flowing in his veins."
"Will, we don't have a choice. Can you cast it without being here?"
"Yeah, sure. I'll take a few minutes to set it up."
"Ok, move fast. Hilary could be back any time."
"Alright."
As Willow hung up Buffy moved back over to where Spike was lying. Now all she had to do was wait.
And pray.
TBC.
